arnau and sarah

the first pic is of arnau helping us celebrate monday with susanna's family in granollers. we all gathered for a meal in her home for "dia de san esteban". whenever i ask someone why there is a day for saint stephen right after christmas, no one seems to know. looks like a good reason to be with family and eat way too much for another day. regardless, it was a wonderful expereince being able to share the festival and day with them. the other pics are of sarah and i wednesday. we left for the airport at an unbelievably horrible hour this morning so yesterday we tried to just soak up all the moments and seconds we could. we didn't do anything that impressive...just spent the morning by the water and the afternoon in gracia...but it was a good day. i loved having you here sarah. i loved getting to show you my city and my life here. i loved getting to hear your stories and thoughts and travel the past 8 months with you. i just loved having you here. come back soon! :)

snowy spanish christmas

sarah and i got to spend christmas day with our friends caleb, lindsey and jonas here in bcn. can you believe it snowed?! in barcelona! ok...ok. it is fake, but we pretended. we missed family in the states, but were thankful to be together and spend the day with the criders. thanks guys!

nativity

this is an origami nativity scene that sarah and i stumbled across saturday morning with raquel in terrassa (a smaller city outside of bcn). this was made by a group of mentally and physically handicapped youth from the community. i like this nativity scence for many reasons. one is it is creative and different. definitely not your typical living room baby Jesus and barn animals. another reason that i like this scene is the portrayal of Jesus. it is hard to see here, but in the manger in the middle is an open book. sarah originally pointed it out to me as a depiction of Jesus being the Word of Life that became flesh and dwelt among us. to me that is what christmas is all about. being thankful that God took on flesh to live amongst us. merry christmas and feliz navidad!

remembering

today pere (older teacher at my art school) was in rare form. so was the whole of portal del angel where my art school is located. in the middle of pere prancing around the room and asking me whether i was awake or dreaming at the moment (which i was having a little difficulty answering to his satisfaction) the lights went off and on for about the fifth time that hour. he said it was from all the consuming this time of year. we use and spend a lot right now. i can't help but feel a little disappointed in my own ability to get caught up in the commericialism and hype that we label the holidays. i must say i've got the shopping bags and a little of stress to show for it. don't get me wrong. i love the christmas cookies. the lights decorating the city....the moments of just being with friends and remembering Christ's entrance. i just want to do a little more of that right now. remembering.

parc guell

these are images from our trip to parc guell today. we rode bus 24 for about 40 minutes from the plaza catalunya to the edge of the park with a bus full of people. older people grouchy because they couldn't sit down. babies angry to be strapped into their seats. women who had just gone shopping with 8 bags each to show for it. men who wished they hadn't just gone shopping with a frown to show for it. public transportation is a cross section of society...of my community....i feel like almost every time i ride the bus or metro i learn something about this city that i live in. ok. that doesn't have anything to do with parc guell. it was just another part of my day.

mission accomplished

today sarah and i went to barceloneta so that she could stick her feet in the mediterranean and so that we could each take about 5 million pictures. mission accomplished.

wiggins

this is for you amanda. you are so missed. all of you. your craziness. your honesty. your fun-ness. your sensitivity. all of you. you made a life here and in the process became part of ours. i think texas might be suprised to find a little of spain on you. you've got the spanish boots, the winter coat and more than one story. i hope you get to share them. you are thought of friend!

jonas

this is one of my favorite people. his name is jonas. he is probably the best natured little person i know. he laughs at our dumbness. he makes us laugh with his jonas-ness. he smiles and flirts with random people. he plays hard. he dances to music videos. he likes peas. he says "OH" and points a lot. he wants to walk he just doesn't know he can yet. basically he is amazing. anyways so much for the jonas tribute. you are loved. :) (this pic was taken today at montserrat when he was really mad about the gloves and hat he was wearing.)

montserrat

this is sarah and i at montserrat. we went today (yesterday...i'm writing REALLY late). we got to this beautiful piece of spain after sitting in a metro, a couple of trains and finally (my favorite) a funicular that took us up the mountain at a 65 degree angle. i tried not to think about that little detail too much or the fact that just a little cord and the weight of the other funicular was keeping us in place. the result was worth any of my nervousness on the inside. why does God always seem closer or louder or just more obivious when i am on a mountain? i don't know but i think others would agree. this is a favorite spot to take a spiritual piligramage to...not just for the view, but to visit the black virgin as well. it was a great day.

montjuic

tonight we went came up from the metro in plaza espanya around 19:30 when they were beginning the light and water show with the fountains on montjuic. at first i kept getting frustrated that my hands were moving and all my pics were comming out blurry. then i decided to embrace it. i think the result is kind of fun.

patatas bravas y sagrada familia

here are some random pictures that have loaded in no particular order. therefore sarah eating patatas bravas is in the middle of sagrada familia pictures. oh well. i think she approved of both.

rediscovering

jo this post is for you. just because i know you are checking. just different views of the city as we've been walking around (and one random one of sarah being a tree. whatever.) i feel like as i show sarah around my city i am rediscovering it myself.

mi hermanita

this is my sarah. she is here to visit for a couple of weeks. YES! she is a bit insane but i put up with her anyways. i'm really glad she is here.

christmas tree

here is our lovely little tree. i felt a little off today so i decided to decorate. it does feel a lot more like christmas in here!

i started art classes last week at a place near our (amanda just moved in) apartment in the old city. i'm doing a couple days a week of drawing/painting classes. when i think about it there is a fun combo of excitement and fear. excitement because i love the creative process. i enjoy getting lost in paper and pastels and finding myself hours later. i'm afraid because it might not be perfect. or at least what i was wanting.

on friday i had an interesting encounter with my art teacher. he looks like a small picasso with a beard and more energy than his body can contain. i think he must be in his seventies and probably the owner of the school.

on one of his passes by my room, he shook my shoulders and told be to be tranquila. it dosen't have to be perfect, he said. he began to explain to me the diffrence between copying and observing. copying is boring and lifeless. observing involves interaction and leads to understanding. he said that it is this type of finished product that is interesting and full of life.

i asked him, "how do you know if a piece of art contains life?" he looked at me and smiled and shuffled his feet in a prancelike way and said, "when you talk to someone you can look at them and hear them and know if they are real. if they are youthful and vibrant. can you not?"

i felt a bit awkard by his energy, but also refreshed and somehow more confident about attempting to create and failing and learning and attempting again. in many ways he reminded me that it is like learning a language. i agree. and i'm excited.

life

i just got off the phone with my mom. she is in north carolina attending the funeral of a family member. it is the third person in my family to pass away this year. 2005 has been difficult for us for large moments of time. it has been sweet too...don't get me wrong. its been the odd mixture of pain and beauty that has made the months interesting and frustrating...long and short. susanna bought me a plant tonight. it is one of those christmas ones with a red flower...oh what do you call those? i'm not one for plant names. or for names in general for that matter. it is sitting next to me right now on the kitchen table with the collection of cacti that susanna's dad gave me back in early october. i was just joking with susanna tonight that i hope my new plant makes it a few weeks so that it can see christmas. my cacti are dying. can you imagine? i just want this plant to stay awhile. when i got off the phone with mom i immediately went to prune and water the plants...i haven't done that in awhile (maybe the reason they aren't doing so well). with my aunt's passing on i am newly wounded by the uncertainty of our days. it leaves me immediately feeling helpless. i can't do anything to help my family or friends so i try to help my poor plants. i control what i can. when i center and come down i realize that i really don't even really have control over my plants. the only thing that gives me peace in the realization is the presence of my Creator and the Holder of my days.

across from cortes ingles...it is a winter wonderland here in bcn the christmas fair outside the gothic cathedral....where they sell all kinds of randomness amongst enough people to make me mentally lose it and black in and out for moments at a time. me and one of my crazy friends. don't look at our tired faces...pretty lights! cortes ingles on the portal del angel...nice! the cortes ingles in the plaza catalunya. they know how to do it up. i love barcelona during this time of the year. it gets all dressed up. kind of reminds me of prom.

here is caga tio. he is basically a log with a blanket covering him and a typical catalan red hat. in catalan homes kids bring orange peels to caga tio as food in the days leading up to christmas. the fun part comes on christmas night when they come and beat him with a stick and sing a song until the parents lift the blanket to show the presents that caga tio has "deposited"....haha.. this huge tio is outside the gothic cathedral. here is amanda and i with out christmas tree!!..yeah! it may only be three feet, but it is the stuff...gotta have a tree..oh and our very own caga tio is joining us for the photo shoot. we are becoming catalanas... :) this is a friend, megan, that is visiting from madrid...i think caga tio has a crush!